Council Updates

30 November 2001

Election of Office Bearers of the Council for 2002
Council-elect members of 2002 cast their votes for the office bearers of Council in November. The following members were elected by secret ballot:

Mrs Arfat Selvam	Mr Philip  Jeyaretnam	Mr Sivakumar  Murugaiyan

Vice President: Mrs Arfat Selvam
Vice President: Mr Philip Jeyaretnam
Treasurer: Mr Sivakumar Murugaiyan

Mr Palakrishnan, SC, was deemed elected as President for 2002.

Power of the Council to Intervene in a Sole Solicitor's Practice if the Practice is Abandoned from 1 November 2001
Council agreed that in all cases of abandonment of a sole practice, Council would:

(a) refer the solicitor's conduct to the Chairman of the Inquiry Panel; and
(b) intervene into the practice and client account.

Guidelines will be drawn up for the above.

Launch of Bizfile
Council was informed that the Registrar of Companies and Businesses ('RCB') would be jointly organising a seminar with the Law Society on 19 December 2001 to inform members about the implementation of the e-filing requirements and the removal of the manual filing mode. Modes of payment would be by credit/cash cards and direct debit by internet banking only. As RCB was not GIRO enabled, this mode of payment would, therefore, not be offered.

Proposal for Advocacy Committee of Law Society to Teach Advocacy at the Postgraduate Law Course ('PLC')
Council was informed that a proposal would be submitted to the Board of Legal Education concerning how the Advocacy Committee could provide a course for PLC students on advocacy skills.

Workshops on Basic Counselling for Lawyers
Council agreed to the Family Practice Committee's proposal to assist the Family Court (Family Resource Training Centre) to conduct workshops for lawyers on counselling their clients. This proposal arose because members had approached the Family Court to express their interest in learning basic skills on managing clients.

Dialogue Session with Registrar of Syariah Court
The Registrar was intending to hold a dialogue session with members prior to the issuance of intended Registrar's Circulars in 2002. The session was held with members in December 2001.

21 December 2001

Meeting with the Trade Development Board ('TDB') on the Internationalisation of Legal Services
Council was informed that TDB was very interested in facilitating and sponsoring the development of ties between local law firms and companies in China. The Law Society would conduct further talks with TDB on this subject.

Foreign Lawyers - Associate Membership
Council noted that the recent amendment to s 41 of the Legal Profession Act
(Cap 161) allowed foreign lawyers who are registered with the Attorney General's Chambers to be associate members of the Law Society.

In view of this, the Corporate Communications and Membership Services Department would embark on a promotion drive to invite all qualified foreign lawyers to apply to be associate members of the Law Society.

Change of Name of Fax Bulletin to Jus News
Council approved the change of name of the Fax Bulletin to Jus News with effect from January 2002, as well as the proposal to revamp the look of the bulletin.

Amendment of the Practice Direction of the Council on the Use of Credit Cards
Council had passed a Practice Direction in October last year to allow law firms/law corporations to use credit cards for payments of their bills.

In view of the feedback received from credit card companies that the merchant discount rate was deducted automatically from every bill submitted to a bank, Council agreed to issue a further Practice Direction (published in the January 2002 issue of the SLG). This Practice Direction would clarify that Council would not view such a practice as firms/corporations sharing their fees with an unauthorised person.

Appointment of Mediators and Arbitrators for the Settlement of Disputes Relating to Costs
Council approved the list of members who had volunteered to assist under this scheme. Letters of appointment were sent out to members who had been accepted by Council.

Appointment of the First Directors to the Proposed Institute for Tax Practitioners
The Institute of Certified Public Accountants ('ICPAS') had written to request for nominations for First Directors to the Proposed Institute for Tax Practitioners. Council nominated Mrs Teoh Lian Ee and Mr Gurbachan Singh to the Board.